On
Dec. 12, 1981, Wayne Gretzky makes
history with his 50th goal of the season.
Wayne Gretzky
is no stranger to making history. He has done it plenty of times. One example
came on this day
in 1981 . Gretzky scored his 50th goal of the season. It was
just his 39th game and that meant he had reached 50 faster than any
player before him. He would finish the season with 92 goals.
The 92 goals would be the most Gretzky would score in a
single season, although he was close two years later as he scored 87 goals in
the 1983-1984 season.
Gretzky would finish his career as the all-time leading
scorer in NHL history with 894 goals, 1,963 assists for 2,857 points in the
regular season.
Gretzky would also excel in the playoffs, in his 20 seasons
in the NHL, Gretzky made the playoffs 16 times with the Edmonton Oilers, Los
Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers. He would score 122 goals,
260 assists for 382 points in just 208 playoff games.
Gretzky would also excel in the International format for his
home country of Canada. In 63 games split between World Junior Championships,
Canada Cup, World Championships, Rendez-vous ’87, the World Cup and the Winter
Olympics in 1998, Gretzky would score 34 goals, 69 assists for a total of 103
points in 63 games.
After his playing career was over Gretzky went on to coach
the Phoenix Coyotes from 2005-2009. While he was outstanding as a player he was
not that as a coach, missing the playoffs every year, posting his best record
in 2008 when he coached the team to a 38-37-7 record, finishing fourth in the
Pacific Division with 83 points.
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